Conveyor belts are commonly used for conveying articles during cooling, drying, coating, cooking and many other applications. Different types of conveyor belts used for such applications include wire mesh belts, balanced weave belts, and flat wire belts.
When assembling a flat wire conveyor belt 10 of the prior art, as shown in FIG. 1, multiple wire elements or pickets 11, which extend the full width of the flat wire belt 10, are held together by multiple connecting rods 12. Each picket 11 has a first set of holes 13 and a second set of holes 14. Each picket is bent so that adjoining pickets 20, 21 can be arranged to allow a connecting rod 12 to be inserted through each of the holes in the first set of holes 13 of one picket 20 and each of the holes in the second set 14 of holes of the adjoining picket 21. The connecting rods also span the full width of the flat wire conveyor belt 10.
Because of the length of the connecting rods, the process of inserting them through the holes in the pickets is cumbersome and time consuming and requires a large space. It is a goal of the present invention to provide a flat wire belt that can be assembled more quickly and easily in a smaller space without the need of tools.
Additionally, as shown in FIG. 2, a flat wire conveyor belt of the prior art has weak edges. All the holes in the second set of holes 14 are the same length. This means the holes 15 in the second set of holes that are at each end of the picket 11, because they are not in sections of the picket that are bent, are such that the part of the picket forming the wall of the hole closest to the end of the picket 16 does not contact the connecting rod 12 inserted through the hole 15. It is a goal of the present invention to strengthen the end of the flat wire belt by having the connecting rod contact the part of the picket forming the wall of the hole closest to the end of the picket.